Continuation of BigLobe Plarail Museum

The boat is not the exact concept with the metal rod and goes halfway across the curve, so it will not be counted as a phantom gem. However these kind of things are rare to some extent that you can't find videos of it running. As you can see the boat is battery powered.

モンコレＡＧ ムービーバッグ 劇場版 蒼海の皇子マナフィ
"Moncolle AG Movie Bag Theatrical Version Prince Manaphy of the Blue Sea"
A luxurious set with a lot of rails, image maps, backgrounds, script, etc., a ship called Blue Lagoon is the Plarail boat, and it runs on the rail with a figure on it. Since there is no Plarail logo in the product name, it is often removed from the Plarail category.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/q346756205

Phantom Gem 53: SL-nn Series of 5th Generation EC Box Genealogy

The real value lies in the box, around 80% of the value remains. These boxes never appeared in any marketplace for the past 5 years (except for SL-03 C-12, just last month). These are very short lived boxes, most of the trains are in a set. Unfortunately the trains are not as valuable as the box.



Phantom Gem 54: All Groove-less Tokai Express Trains Until 5th Generation EC Box

The grooves on the Tokai is the way to tell whether a Tokai is older or newer. The Original Tokai had no deep grooves in between the windows and doors. This Tokai is very valuable in today's collection, it is quite hard to spot the differences from far away. If you look at the sides, you will find that the beautiful mold is used before reprinting.


       Not Phantom Gem                    Phantom Gem            Phantom Gem, Look at the axle holders. (That is the first generation axle holders)

[Super]

Wow, I am so surprised that the Boat set went for only 1980yen, I always thought this set to be one of those very hard to find. I sure wish I knew about that auction as I sure would have been a part of it as the set looks to be in great shape. Shipping a box that size might have been a lot but I still would have been interested, not so much for the other parts of the set but just for the boat.

Sure it is hard to find but the problem is its popularity, its not popular without the Plarail logo and that is why it is forgotten. Not many people know about its existence, but that boat is battery powered and it is not guided by a metal rod and not powered by the train that climbs on the ship.

Phantom Gem 54: D-51きしゃ（青）　Blue D-51 Kisha

There are 2 types of D-51 Kisha: Black and Blue. It seems that the blue version was very limited in production, sold in different prefectures in Japan during 1973 and discontinued in the same year according to a myth, but some books that I read said they were released in 1970 or released in 1971, and noticed that different rumours are present. Blue D-51 is listed in the catalog of 1970, so it seems that it will be confirmed as of 1970.

However the number of surviving blue D-51 are extremely small today, an estimate of 55 survives today. This box does not have the ST mark printed on it so it was launched before it met toy safety standards. A blue D-51 would be one of the most unhistorical Plarail to date due to the colour and the wagons.

[Super]

Oh, wow, I had never seen or heard of this before. That is cool. Is that the correct box for a blue version? The engine on the box looks to be black and automobile looks white.

I was always curious about this very early age of the steam trains as they didn't come with a replica Tender. I would have loved to see this blue D-51 with a matching blue Tender.

Thanks for the information Vio, your Posts are always interesting if not amazing. 

It is mentioned in Biglobe's 2nd generation vehicles list since the start.
The blue D-51's box has yellow hiragana & darker shade of blue and the black D-51's box has white hiragana & lighter shade of blue.
The differences of the box and the D-51 itself are very hard to spot if shone in yellow light.

Honourable Mentions 2

人形あそび D-51（旧動力）vs 人形あそび D-51（新動力）　Doll Play D-51 Front Switch vs Doll-Play D-51 Top Switch

It takes a long time to spot the differences in these 2 boxes for beginners and experts of Plarail. The boxes in front are very similar (but look at where the switch is on the D-51), but the back side of the box is different.


  Honourable Phantom Gem   NOT Honourable Phantom Gem


  Honourable Phantom Gem   NOT Honourable Phantom Gem

I'm not saying that all front switch D-51 are phantom gems. Again as said in the last post about SL, the trains carry less value than the box. Around 80% of the value are in the box. The front switch version was quickly replaced by the top switch power version during it's first stage of production in 1994. New power version sold until 1997. Front switch power version is very scarce in today's collections and definitely deserves a place in the honourable mentions, but not a true phantom gem.

Honourable Mentions 3

Tomica World 7430 TGV Set & Tomica World 7422 Mega Set & Tomica World 8296 Medium Set (Super's post)

A Plarail exported to the European regions. These are by far the most difficult sets to find in the Tomica World series. I don't know when these are manufactured, simply guess beyond 1988 due to the fact new power motors were introduced then. Seems to be manufactured for a very short time. There was a joke where Japanese people said: "I'll never buy toys from Western countries because a Western high school/college student wouldn't treat their toys as well as Japanese toddlers.". Actual fact, it is almost true that a higher population of Japanese people practice preservation over usage, these sets hardly survive in these conditions. (I don't mean to generalise and shame anyone here with this true statement.) I as a Japanese player also agree with it to some extent. Sets like these are going for at least 30000 yen or more if ever found on Yahoo auctions.

The reason why it is an honourable mention: Not Made In Japan.

[Super]

I am surprised that this Tomica World set isn't one of the above Honorable Mentions. From what I understand that it was only sold in the US and not for very long. You rarely ever see them in the box like this let alone seeing them sold separately at all.